Friday, July 24, 2009

It's like.... a whole new world..... Ya know?

.The jewelry business, I mean. As I dig through stuff that's been piling up at this store for years, I stumble across things that require explanation. Some, I manage to figure out myself. Others, I bag up and wait to ask someone else. A few.... other.... things nobody can seem to explain. Like..... why do we stock a ring that has a drawer in it?

Today and tomorrow a goldsmith will be in, buying gold from the public. I'm hoping and expecting to learn a few things. With luck, I'll have a chance to pick his mind on a few of the more confusticating items I have come across.

As for the store, it's slowly coming back on line I think. People are finding it open again, and that helps tremendously. Business is slow, but I'm okay with that for the moment. It's giving me time to clean up years worth of crud, dirt, and clutter. I'm thinking there's a solid three weeks of just cleaning and organizing to do. Yesterday I managed to get 2/3rds of one window display done.... it's that slow going. In one day I used three rolls of paper towels and a bottle of glass cleaner, and it hardly shows.

I also purchased a broom and dustpan for the floor.... as everything I pick up will have to be sorted through like an archeological expedition. Amongst the nearly neolithic dust bunnies are hidden gemstones, gold findings, silver settings.... it's like a demented treasure hunt.

Most interesting are the customers. I'm getting to meet people from all over the United States, as the store is in a historic town and a tourist area. Folks show up with the oddest accents, and conversations are easy to strike up. My own profession is education, and in one day alone I met fellow teachers from three states and one other country. We all congratulate each other on surviving the career choice.

Ah well.... It's 6:00 am, and once again I have wakened earlier than need be. It will mean extra time to sip coffee and contemplate the oddities that make up my life. I'll be in the store in a few hours, for a day's adventure in cleaning, organizing, and the general excitement of the retail world.

I haven't picked up my camera in a few weeks, as my heart has just not been in it. Soon I'll release that funk and begin tripping the shutter again. With luck, maybe some range time will creep into the mix as well. Check back... and we'll see :-)

JK, it has it's moments. Meeting the people can be fun, and S permeates this place. I see her everyplace I turn. That's a good feeling.

Jean.... pegged it on the first go. I'd expect nothing less from you :-)

I'll stay teaching, but for now my spare time will be invested here helping out my friend. What happens later.... I'll take that as it comes. Honestly? I can't see that far into the future right now. I'm gun shy, and happy to just go day by day.

I pick up bits and pieces, and say to myself "Wow, this is silver! It's valuable! Put it in a safe place!".

Then, I take a few of those little bits of silver, worth a few dollars, and pair them up with a few pieces of semi precious citrine worth a few dollars, and suddenly I have made a pair of earrings. A woman finds them fascinating and buys them practically out of my hands as I finish them.... for ten times what the store has in them.... and with a huge smile of happiness.

There is some kind of magic in that, and I need to learn how to work it. I don't see the silver and stones the same anymore... now they are raw materials, and the means to an end, and a way to make people happy.

"It would seem that you have no useful skill or talent whatsoever," he said. "Have you thought of going into teaching?"

-- (Terry Pratchett, Mort)

That's MY job around here

Tourist, Rincewind decided, meant "idiot".

-- (Terry Pratchett, The Colour of Magic)

On nights such as these the gods, as has already been pointed out, play games other than chess with the fates of mortals and the thrones of kings. It is important to remember that they always cheat, right up to the end...

-- (Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters)

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